Transforming the network core with the cloud

Total Telecom was delighted to interview ZTE’s Vice President of Cloud & Core Network Product, Zhu Jianjun to discuss the ways in which telcos can engage with vertical industry and how ZTE’s core network solutions differ from others on the market.

What role does ZTE play in vertical industries' digital transformation?

As a world leading telecommunication equipment provider, ZTE is an active player in the standardisation, business innovation, and the deployment of mobile networks. By providing innovative technologies and solutions for telcos and enterprises around the world, ZTE enables global users to enjoy voice, data and multimedia communications services. 

Specially, in recent years ZTE has been focussed on 5G engagement with vertical industries, such as the field of smart power with China Southern Power Grid, smart manufacturing with Nanjing Industrial Park, smart port with Tianjin Port, and smart rail with Guangzhou Metro, as well as smart mines, mobile games and private 5G networks for E-sports.

Many operators are rolling out 5G using dynamic spectrum slicing technology. What advantages does this technology have for operators? 

With the more and more extensive 5G services becoming available, spectrum slicing technology is becoming the most important solution for operators. ZTE was one of the earliest providers to support DevOps and our end-to-end slicing solution means that one physical network can actually support various vertical businesses. 

Our 5G core solution is based on componentisation, making it perfect for delivering micro-services through network slicing to meet the diversified services requirements of operators. For example, in our Europe Campus network, ZTE’s 5G core provides eight slicing solutions based on micro-service architecture to meet the many different kinds of vertical industry requirements around bandwidth, latency, and security.

Tell us more about ZTE's standalone 5G core solutions and what makes your core network products distinct from alternatives on the market.

ZTE’s family of fully cloudified core solutions covers the entire cloud ecosystem including four key areas that we have identified: Cloud Application, Cloud Infrastructure, Cloud Operation, and Cloud Integration.

ZTE cloud infrastructure solutions provide a full convergence of resources for constructing the ideal cloud foundation for your network. We provide expertise for global planning and efficient resource scheduling with our dual-engine driven cloud core technology. This technology includes flexible deployment and facilitates hardware acceleration, as well as delivering enhanced computing power.

ZTE’s cloud-native Common Core solution is ideal for many applications, with a number of key features making if both flexible and reliable:

• Full Convergence: Common Core supports 2G/3G/4G/5G and fixed access for a smooth network evolution transition. 

• Stateless Design: Dynamic data is centralised in cloud storage without bundling with service processing, helping to improve reliability 

• Componentisation: Public modules are separated from service logic and become common components, thereby improving resource efficiency 

• Microservices:  Network capabilities are atomised to facilitate network slicing and meet the diverse service requirements of operators.

Meanwhile, ZTE’s CloudStudio provides operator’s with an agile, automated, and intelligent cloud Management system. Here, we wanted to focus on the concept of ‘zero’, leaving operators nothing standing in their way towards achieving their cloud goals.

• Zero Gap between ideas and realisation: We prioritised an agile design and continuous optimisation to ensure consistency between user requirements and service design. 

• Zero Waiting from ordering to enjoying: Automated service deployment that will guarantee users’ enjoyment without waiting. 

• Zero Touch instead of human intervention: Intelligent service assurance to achieve self-healing, self-optimisation, and the autonomy of both the business and the network.

Finally, our Cloud Integration Service allows for efficient end-to-end and one-stop service delivery.

• Flexible Pre-Integration: The service allows for early detection of multi-vendor product compatibility issues and model optimisation according to end-to-end reliability evaluation reports, reducing commercial risks.

• An Open Ecosystem: The service support a broad partner ecosystem based on four global OpenLabs. 

• A Rich Integration Experience: ZTE’s service brings more than thirty years of telecoms industry experience, with our dedicated integration experts having a lot of commercials and point-of-contact projects under their belts.